act of the terror. explosions hit runners and crowds at the boston marathon. the obama administration is handling the attack as an act of terror. at least two people were killed. about 100 others wounded. the first explosion knocked back runners 30 meters from the

finish and another explosion hit people a short distance away. emergency services rushed to the scene. >> it's just unbelievable this would happen at an event like this. >> there was no word on the motive or who may have been responsible. investigators are working to find out whether the attack was carried out by a terrorist group from inside or outside the country. u.s. president barack obama ordered members of his administration to provide any necessary assistance. we will find out who did this. we'll find out why they did this. any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice. >> the boston marathon is one of the biggest annual athletic events in the u.s. about 26,000 runners were taking part. officials have created a no flight zone over the site of the

explosion. new york police have redeployed counter terrorism vehicles around the city. they have strengthened protections around landmarks in manhattan including major hot s hotels. washington has increased security throughout the capitol and they have closed pennsylvania avenue in front of the white house to pedestrian. united nations secretary has criticized the violence. he said his thoughts are with everyone in boston. >> i condemn this senseless violence which is further more appalling for taking place at an event renowned for bringing people together from around the world in the spirit of sportsmanship and harmony. >> he expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. wall street investors were trading when the explosion

occurred. what's happening in the market? >> both the dow and the nasdaq were already in negative down by someless than expected news by china. news of the explosion just weighed down sentiment even more. the dow jones closed at 14,999. that's down 1.8% and nasdaq fell 78 points. 3,216. for more on how stocks here are trading let's go to ramin. he's at the tokyo stock exchange. tokyo traders waking up to some unfortunate news this morning. how is the markets over there looking? >> a lot of focus on the explosions in boston and u.s. markets did take a tumbles. concerns about the global economic outlook as well. let's go straight to the opening levels for tokyo for the nikkei

and the topix for april 16th, this tuesday. both indexes in the negative following on from the u.s. markets. 13,054 for the nikkei. topix down just under 2%. we saw a sharp decline on monday following the worst than expected gdp data out of china. it's caused investors to shift funds back into what they consider safer assets. one of them being the yen. we have seen some fluctuations in the u.s. financial markets keeping a very close eye on gold. the price of gold had its biggest one day drop falling around 9%. you can see the graph there and

the figures coming up to a two year low on monday. that's due to fears over the sale of the precious metal by central bank. also interesting to see how the banking sector will perform the citigroup came out with its earnings announcing net income rose 30% last quarter so a bit of focus on banks as well. >> prices of gold which has been considered a safe asset, that's falling. what about another safe haven, the yen? >> that's coming into focus right now. the dollar/yen coming up now. it fell to the 95 level after the explosion in boston. it hit 99.95 on april 11. now at 96.81 to 85. some voicing concerns about the pace of the yen's recent weakening, we are seeing a pull

back of sorts. 126.37 to 42. you're also following concerns over cyprus paying back as bail out still hangs over the market as well. we'll have earnings out of u.s. with banks and high-tech sector shares as well but a negative opening here this tuesday in tokyo. back to you. >> thanks a lot for that update. the nikkei is down 1.6%. there's a few more business headlines in a few minutes but i'll leave you with a check on other markets for now. people in north korea celebrated an important holiday

on monday. people elsewhere waited nervously to see if leaders would use the occasion for military muscle. north korea leader marked the occasion with a visit to his grandfather's state run tv say he was accompanied by close aids including his uncle and mentor. it was his first appearance on state media since two weeks ago. south korea's defense minister said officials are still on high alert. >> translator: north korea is

ready to launch a missile at any time. >> the minister says authorities are preparing for various kind of attacks from the north. military and police officers held a drill in seoul, rehearsed how to deal with a bomb attack on a subway station. north korea's leaders have made repeated threats targeting people in other nations. in spite of repeated calls for restraint. officials in pyongyang escalated tensions after u.n. security council members repeated sanctions. they were responding to the third nuclear test. the country's military leaders have issued a series of warnings they are ready to attack. they've threatened to strike targets in the united states, south korea and japan. south korean government officials suspect north korean agents were behind a series of cyber attacks last month. they affected more than 50,000 computers at tv stations and major banks. officials believe the attacks were the work of north korea's reconnaissance general bureau

which conducts espionage against the south. this month south korean officials said the north appears ready to launch the musudan, a mid-range ballistic missile and several short-range missiles. defense analysts are trying to understand where all of this is headed. akimoto has been tracking the situation for the defense of securities studies, a british think tank. >> north korean commanders are organizing their troops. they want to respond by the u.s. and the south korean forces. with such tensions, north korean soldiers can't afford to be taking part in mental parlay. thus said, there is little possibility of renewed fighting between the two koreas. u.s. and south korean commanders staged their exercise to train their troops in joint operations and to put on a show of strength. the leaders in pyongyang are simply responding to that. these are psychological tactics.

we see little signs that ground troops are preparing for war. no troops have moved south, and we have no reports of anything unusual happening in pyongyang. military tensions always risk causing something unpredictable. a nervous front line soldier could fire a shot by mistake and prompt an exchange of gunfire and start a fight that could escalate. with this dynamic, u.s. leaders counsel that the test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, but we've heard these repeated threats from the north koreans. they may believe that doing nothing would damage morale among their it troops. so they may launch a missile, but i can't imagine a direct assault on japanese territory or guam unless a war breaks out.

data from the past three nuclear tests show that the explosions were all small scale. but seven years have already passed since the first test. and it's clear that engineers are trying to develop a small nuclear warhead capable of being launched on a missile. the medium-range musudan missile can be considered, but they're still working on the warhead and the delivery technologies. we are all wondering how far they will be going down that road. but certainly they have made progress. if things remain as they are, a nuclear arm of north korea will become a reality in the near future. >> the alliance will not remain bystander. nato secretary general spoke to

nhk during a visit to japan. he called on them to join dialogue for a peaceful solution. >> i hope the message that they have sent to the north korean leadership will give a clear incentive to the north korean leadership to pursue dialogue and refrain from further provocative actions. >> he also said nato will stand by its allies. >> if a nato ally is attacked, it will probably be raised for consultation among nato ally the. nato allies will discuss the situation and make decisions based on the specific circumstances.

>> north korea has been threatening to attack targets in the u.s. and allied countries. america's second largest tv provider has launched a counter bid for sprint nextel. dish network is challenging japan's bank. they have offered over $25 billion in cash and stocks for sprint. that's 13% more than soft bank's proposal. they offered to buy 70% of sprint shares last october for $20 billion. dish's challenge could trigger a bidding war. board members will study the offer carefully. soft bank officials say they are monitoring the competitors move to understand the motive before taking any action.

they believe sprint executives agreed to the offer because they they not only did they accept the price but welcomed the strategy to expand mobile services together. a deal could create a free trade zone accounting for nearly one-third of global gross demessiahd domestic products. they held talks in brussels. they will discuss how negotiations should proceed and which sectors they will discuss. japanese officials hope the eu will remove tariffs on autos and home appliances so the companies makers can increase exports. eu negotiates are expected ask for changes.

they may terminate talks if they see to progress in a year. that's all for me this hour. people in china are worrying that the deadly bird flu may be spreading. h7n9 infections were concentrated in shanghai and neighboring areas in eastern china. but health officials say they have found cases elsewhere. officials in beijing confirm that a 4 year old boy tested positive for the latest strain of avian influenza. they say he shows no symptoms but they're keeping him under observation. a 7 year old girl was the first case. her parents sell live poultry. three more cases appeared over the weekend. two why in beijing and now hunan province has one. the virus is hard to tackle. >> translator: chickens don't develop flu symptoms from h7n9. they look healthy from the outside.

so it's hard to tell how far the epidemic has spread. >> he says chinese authorities don't seem to be taking appropriate measures, including culling the infected birds. he warns that if authorities can't contain the virus in birds, it may mutate and be able to transfer between humans. they're working against a backdrop of fresh problems at the crippled nuclear plant. they started proceedings on monday. they asked tokyo electric power officials for details about the plant's clean up. the inspector's plan to examine the plant itself then will

happen in draft assessment. tepco has discovered that tons of radioactive water has seeped into the soil. they will have to wait about four decades for the plant to be fully decommissioned. the wetlands of the southern indian state have been known for their timeless beauty, trueing visitors from all over the world. now there's another unique aspect that's changing life there for man eye of its residents, a floating supermarket. nhk has more. >> reporter: south india. life here is steeped in tradition. people take pride in their life near the water just as therefore fathers have done for generations. but this boat has brought changes to their lifestyle.

it's a floating supermarket. it stops at each water side district once a month. people look forward to it's rifle. the 20 meter long boat stocks about 750 kinds of products. including rice, the main staple and incense to drive off mosquitoes that cause malaria. it also carries a variety of soft drinks and sweets. >> translator: i like to buy biscuits and chocolates. >> reporter: people in the backwaters have waited years for a floating supermarket.

during that time, locals would often travel several hours by boat and car to the nearest town to buy essentials like rice. there are about 140 isolated areas like this that the floating supermarket can reach. more than 800,000 people who live there rely on the floating supermarket. it is run by a consumers corporate. >> people belong to -- we like to provide all necessary assistance to them. >> reporter: the key to its success is an inventory control system developed by reggie.

it links the corporate headquarters to the floating supermarket so people at headquarters can monitor inventory on the boat in real time. when an item is about to run out, the head office instructs the floating supermarket at a certain port. a truck is sent there to restock the necessary items. the cost of fuel and other factors would force conventional floating retailers to increase prices. but they feel they can sell goods at the same prices as land based stores. shoppers can even buy items like this that used to be difficult to get. >> translator: i ordered a washing machine and had the floating supermarket deliver it

to my door. >> reporter: the supermarket will deliver large household electrical appliances on order without charging a transportation fee. this customer is very happy. she no longer has to do the laundry by hand. >> translator: thanks to the floating supper market i can buy what i want. i don't want to return to the old way of life. >> reporter: in many ways, the old lifestyle still has a firm grip on people. but slowly modern services are reshaping an age old way of life. nhk world, india. time now to get a check on the weather. it seems people in some parts of spain are finding ways to stay cool. >> yes. good morning, catherine. people in spain are experiencing

midsummer like temperatures. let me show you a video coming from there. temperatures soared to 30 degrees celsius in parts of southeastern spain on monday. the average temperature is about 20 degrees. people flocked to the beaches to enjoy the summer like conditions and bright sunshine. much of spain will be continuing to see higher than average temperatures through the week. we get back to the satellite pictures. you can see that not a lot of cloud cover in the central regions of europe. and that includes spain as well. but the high waves are going to be climbing the northwestern coast. so do watch out for that. and towards the north it's still very wet and windy. same picture from yesterday, with a couple of systems impacting the north. the british isles will be seeing some wet and windy conditions. the heaviest rain zone will be found in the northeastern areas of the u.k. but the southeastern areas

remaining devoid of precipitation. you're going to be wet and windy across the scandinavian peninsula. some thunderstorms popping up. but mainly fine, generally speaking and unstable weather will be continuing across turkey. looking at 13 degrees. berlin, hanging on to the 20s. on the chillier side. now moving over to asia. here across japan we're seeing really sunny skies yet again across tokyo metropolitan region and that's due to the high pressure system making things calm and warm. north korea will be seeing mixed precipitation, snow in the higher elevations. maybe rain in south korea for your tuesday. now south areas of china will

see the drenching rainfall. down here in southern thailand, this is another drenching rain zone. this has been continuing. so the risk of flooding, mud slides and landslides is very high. that's going to ten there for an another couple of days. 35 in manila and bangkok. and 21 on the warmer side here in tokyo. it's going to be about 20 degrees. in north america, the winter storm is weakening, now it's shifting to the great lakes region. we do have another system behind

it. it's going to bring another round of really heavy snow. that's going to be in wyoming, focused about 70 centimeters in the next hours. so total accumulation is going to be significant amounts. major travel disruptions across the central rockies regions. the previous storm that hit colorado is now moving to the grt lakes reon as wells tempatur at 6 for ur high. loanges onhe cler side at 18 degrees. boston at 18 with chance of showers on your tuesday night. here's your extended forecast.

reminder of our lead story. a white house official says the obama administration is handling an attack in boston as an act of terror. two explosions hit runners just as they were about to cross the finish line. two people were killed. about 100 others wounded. the first explosion knocked back runners, 30 meters from the finish. then another explosion hit people a short distance away. emergency services rushed to the

scene. >> it's just unbelievable this would happen at an event like this. >> there's no word on the motive or on who may have been responsible. investigators are working to find out whether the attack was carried out by a terrorist group from inside or outside the country. u.s. president barack obama ordered members of his administration to provide any necessary assistance. >> we will find out who did this. we'll find o whyhey did this. any responsible individuals, any individual groups will feel the full weight of justice. >> the boston marathon is one of biggest annual athletic veevent in the u.s. about 26,000 runners were taking part. that's all for this edition of "newsline." do stay with us.